A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the gate of a popular restaurant in Somalia's capital, and gunmen were fighting their way inside, police said tonight.

A hostage situation was under way at the Pizza House restaurant, said Captain Mohamed Hussein. Many of the restaurant's workers are foreigners, mostly from Ethiopia.

Hussein had no immediate information about any casualties.

The Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabab often targets high-profile areas of Mogadishu, including hotels, military checkpoints and areas near the presidential palace. It has vowed to step up attacks after the recently elected government launched a new military offensive against it.

Al-Shabab last year became the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa, with more than 4,200 people killed in 2016, according to the Washington-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

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